Kathmandu. Currently, Mahaprasad Adhikari, a close ally of UML, is the governor of the Nepal Rastra Bank. His term ends next week. Even if we look ahead, Yubaraj Khatiwada from UML had served his entire term as governor.

The race for a new governor has intensified after the Cabinet meeting formed a recommendation committee led by the Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister to select the governor of Nepal Rastra Bank. Dhungana has stepped into the fray to become the governor by resigning.After Nepal, the central bank had reached the quota of UML. Now, the top leaders of the party are putting pressure on President Sher Bahadur Deuba to ensure that the governor should also be part of the Congress due to the 'roll-order'.

Congress leader Shekhar Koirala had publicly drawn the attention of the President to take an interest in the appointment of the governor, saying that the role of the Congress was not seen in the running of the state. Then, there were reports that Foreign Minister Arju Rana Deuba refused to move forward with the process of appointing a new governor until the matter was resolved.

For a few days, the Congress establishment was also seen as making the governor a 'baseline'. For President Deuba, other posts other than the Governor of the National Bank and the Vice-Chairman of the National Planning Commission are not much 'eyes'. At a time when the entire economy is in trouble, the demand for a person with a 'liberal' image to be appointed as the governor has also been prevalent in the stock market. Recently, the stock market had been ‘celebrating’ the exit of Governor Adhikari.

Amidst these incidents, Nabil Bank CEO Gyanendra Prasad Dhungana has resigned from the top post of the bank. He had been trying to become the governor for a long time. Earlier, he was seen trying to become the governor even when he was the CEO of Nepal Bangladesh Bank.

Ashok Sherchan, who was seen as the strongest contender for the governorship on the UML side, has not resigned yet. Whether Dhungana tried to ‘seize the opportunity’ to retire from the bank when things did not work out with the promoter group there is another matter. But some have also seen his leaving his current job as an ‘increased possibility’ of becoming the governor.